The Daily Mail on how a growing number of women in Japan are stepping out of the shadows to say they were forced to work in Japan's multi-billion-dollar porn industry:
More than that the story highlights the true face of all pornography. No one in any country goes into the industry willingly. The industry thrives on coercing people who have come to the end of the road in life or young women lured by a lavish lifestyle that never materialises. As one of the victims says, "[the women] are not necessarily all abused or locked up...It's more like they are tricked into it". And of course once they are in it that then becomes life.
But the main reason I am flagging up this story is not simply to highlight the human tragedy. Pornography is rampant. People, including many who claim to follow Jesu, think it’s normal and just an ugly part of human existence. As I have thought about this issue, I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason why pornography is tolerated even by people who profess to have faith in Jesus is that as human beings we always try and insulate ourselces from the human side of stories.
We to fight the desire to look at pornography with a better look at the faces of people who supply pornography. Who are these women in the pornography industry? Who is Saki? She is a daughter of someone. She has dreams just like you. She have fears just like you; she desires to be valued and cared for just like you do. And yet all over the world, millions of women just like her are abused, raped, and exploited because men settle for base animal lusts over a redeemed human identity.
God the Son put on our humanity in Jesus to be one of us. He cams not only to save us from sin, but to show us how the original design was meant to be. He taught us how to love a sinner and how to treat the sick and the poor. He showed how to work with integrity. He encouraged us to be incredible neighbors and above all to be people who love other people, as ourselves, especially those of the opposite sex. In short, Jesus challenged us not to look away from the computer screen, TV, billboard ad, or lovely woman walking down the street. He actually taught us to look more deeply at other human beings. To see God’s divine imprint on them alongside the stain of sin that has marred human nature.
Young, pretty and hoping for stardom, Saki Kozai thought she had found her ticket to fame after an apparent model scout spotted her on a Tokyo street and offered her a job. Then just 24 years old, starstruck and excited, she quickly signed a deal with the agency he introduced her to, believing that she would soon star in promotion videos. In fact, it was not a modelling agency, and on her first day Kozai discovered the job required her to have sex on camera. "I couldn't take off my clothes. All I could do was cry...There were about 20 people around me, waiting. No woman could say 'no' when they're surrounded like that," she said.It is good to see the Daily Mail report this story because this is not just a Japanese problem it is a global problem. In a world of the internet the supply of pornography in Japan has a ready market around the world. Many of the consumers are people who live in Western Europe. The pornography that people watch has real human stories behind them. These people are treated as nothing more than sex slaves for the benefit of pornography consumers world wide.
More than that the story highlights the true face of all pornography. No one in any country goes into the industry willingly. The industry thrives on coercing people who have come to the end of the road in life or young women lured by a lavish lifestyle that never materialises. As one of the victims says, "[the women] are not necessarily all abused or locked up...It's more like they are tricked into it". And of course once they are in it that then becomes life.
But the main reason I am flagging up this story is not simply to highlight the human tragedy. Pornography is rampant. People, including many who claim to follow Jesu, think it’s normal and just an ugly part of human existence. As I have thought about this issue, I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason why pornography is tolerated even by people who profess to have faith in Jesus is that as human beings we always try and insulate ourselces from the human side of stories.
We to fight the desire to look at pornography with a better look at the faces of people who supply pornography. Who are these women in the pornography industry? Who is Saki? She is a daughter of someone. She has dreams just like you. She have fears just like you; she desires to be valued and cared for just like you do. And yet all over the world, millions of women just like her are abused, raped, and exploited because men settle for base animal lusts over a redeemed human identity.
God the Son put on our humanity in Jesus to be one of us. He cams not only to save us from sin, but to show us how the original design was meant to be. He taught us how to love a sinner and how to treat the sick and the poor. He showed how to work with integrity. He encouraged us to be incredible neighbors and above all to be people who love other people, as ourselves, especially those of the opposite sex. In short, Jesus challenged us not to look away from the computer screen, TV, billboard ad, or lovely woman walking down the street. He actually taught us to look more deeply at other human beings. To see God’s divine imprint on them alongside the stain of sin that has marred human nature.
If you find yourself looking lustfully at a woman. What you need is to look a little longer. And while you look, pray for that girl and see if you don’t see her differently. You will see everyone differently and you will repent from your sin. You either look at the opposite sex as a father, son or brother … or you are a predator. As followers of Jesus, there is only one way to see other people : “from now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. (2 Corinthians 5: 16).
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